Find the forms that you need:

Give feedback to the Practice:

Get advice on common conditions:

Find Information about the services offered by your GP Practice such a travel services.

Find information about health services and health support groups in your area.

Get help from NHS Choices regarding your condition together with advice on what to do next.

How do I make a request to my Practice?

To make a request to your Practice select the service that you require.

You will be prompted for information about your request. When you complete a request this will be sent to your practice. The system acknowledges that your request has been sent and will let you know what happens next.

The Practice handles the requests during their normal working day, i.e. if you send a request on Friday pm the Practice won’t normally see it until Monday morning.

How do I receive the responses from the Practice?

On some services, such as Ask the Practice a question and Ask the Doctor a question once the Practice has processed your request they will send you a response. This response will be sent to the email address that you have given in the form.

For security purposes the email will ask that you verify your identification. Once you have completed this the message from the surgery will be shown for you to read.

Security of your information

This service always uses fully encrypted connections, the same security as used in internet banking. If you look at the right of the address bar, you will see a small padlock icon. This indicates that you are using a secure link and that your data is encrypted.

As an additional measure your information is held encrypted until the practice need to view it. It is then sent to the practice still encrypted and only converted to readable text at the practice.

See our Privacy Policy for more information.

Tracking users

We track how you use our Digital Practice but we don’t collect or store your personal information (e.g. your name or address) while you’re browsing. This means that you can’t be personally identified.

We use Google Analytics software to track:

The pages you visit

How long you use the site

How you got to the site and what links you clicked on.

We haven’t give Google permission to share this data with anyone else.

How Digital Practice updated?

We are continuously working on this site to make sure that the information is accurate and up to date. The digital practice is also continuously updated based on the results of user testing, feedback from members of the public and from your practice and other practices who are using this sytem.

Suggestions for improvement of the Digital Practice

We are always looking for ways to improve this service and would welcome your suggestions. Please send your comments to suggestions@siliconpractice.co.uk

Links to external sites

Digital Practice links to external organisations when that service is essential for helping a patient complete a task or when helping patients find a service.

trying remedies such as gargling salt water and sucking on menthol sweets

Many painkillers and decongestants are available from pharmacies without a prescription. They're generally safe for older children and adults to take, but might not be suitable for babies, young children, pregnant women, people with certain underlying health conditions, and those taking certain other medications. Speak to a pharmacist if you're unsure.

It might also be a good idea to see your GP if you're concerned about your baby or an elderly person, or if you have a long-term illness such as a lung condition. You can also phone NHS 111 for advice.

How do colds spread?

In general, a person becomes contagious from a few days before their symptoms begin until all of their symptoms have gone. This means most people will be infectious for around two weeks.

You can catch the virus from an infectious person by:

touching an object or surface contaminated by infected droplets and then touching your mouth, nose or eyes

touching the skin of someone who has the infected droplets on their skin and then touching your mouth, nose or eyes

inhaling tiny droplets of fluid that contain the cold virus – these are launched into the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes

Colds spread most easily among groups of people in constant close contact, such as families and children in school or day care facilities. They're also more frequent during the winter, although it's not clear exactly why.

A number of different viruses can cause a cold, so it's possible to have several colds one after the other, as each one may be caused by a different virus.

How can I stop a cold spreading?

You can take some simple steps to help prevent the spread of a cold. For example:

always sneeze and cough into tissues – this will help prevent the virus-containing droplets from your nose and mouth entering the air, where they can infect others; you should throw away used tissues immediately and wash your hands

clean surfaces regularly to keep them free of germs

use your own cup, plates, cutlery and kitchen utensils

don't share towels or toys with someone who has a cold

It's been suggested that vitamin C, zincand garlic supplements may help reduce your risk of getting a cold, but there's currently not enough strong evidence to support this.